HOLY wow the snow!!

Ok I almost can't quite believe it even as I write it.

In the year 2009, I managed to save and allocate $4295 in snowflakes! Isn't that amazing????

I'm in shock.

I took my  last $350 to the bank today and plopped it down on my consolidated loan.

It's been a fantastic year for snow.

Snowflakes - my definition

I defined this as money that was not specifically designated in my budget or was leftover. This amount changed every month, as did where it goes. Any money I 'found' within my budget or from outside that I threw at my target du jour. This could be money from my jars leftover. This could be birthday money from my dad or Christmas money from my father in law. This could be all the change that I kept and rolled. It came from doing extra supervision at work that I got paid cash for, or the wee admin allowance on the days that I was acting admin. It came from a bit of money owed me by a friend. It came from working another person's fundraising shift at bingos or canteens, which they paid me for. It came from money I had in the past few months of this calendar year when I had maxed out on my Pension and EI contributions.

I understand everyone who uses the term snowflakes may define it dififerently. This is mine :P

Snowflakes - where did they go?

Ohhh all sorts of good places. They went to pay off the Christmas debt after Xmas 2008. They went to pay off my Bank of Mom loan! They went to targetted savings such as Xmas 2009, Summer 2010, a bit to RRSP. It went to saving $2500 for a downpayment on a new vehicle, which was used in June. Finally, a good chunk of it went towards a lump sum payment for my consolidated loan.

Snowflakes - the future?

I don't anticipate as many this coming year for one main reason. I have changed my budget to 'use up' some of that money and put specific amounts towards savings targets each and every month. The money is still going to a greater good......just not as many of them whirling randomly about....they are more.................military style snowflakes with a purpose hehe

I plan to put every single snowflake I can get my hands on towards my consolidated loan. The sooner that is paid off, the sooner I have $579 to reallocate elsewhere in my budget.

I never thought that I would be able to set aside so much. I guess it shows the benefits of budgeting and watching more carefully what one spends. It shows how much more I can do with my money than I thought I could when I frittered it away on whatever I wished.

There is absolutely still room for refinement and improvement. That's the beauty of learning as you grow.

May 2010 grant you many lovely snowflakes to use for good, rather than evil.